duel in denver. at the first presidential debate president obama and mitt romney hit each other on the economy, health care and the role of government in americans' lives. >> the federal government has the capacity to help open up opportunity and create ladders of opportunity and create frame works where the american people can succeed. >> what we're seeing right now in my view a trickle down government approach which has government thinking it can do a better job than free people pursuing their dreams and it's not working. >> border violence, tensions ratchet up in the middle east as turkey and syria exchange fire in deadly clashes along their shared border. >> season for the ages. miguel cabrera, baseball's first >> season for the ages. miguel cabrera, baseball's first triple crown winner in 45 years. r this is the "cbs morning news"

for thursday, october 4, 2012. "cbs morning news" good morning. good to be withyou. i'm terrell brown. today both president obama and mitt romney return to the campaign trail following last night's debate in denver. as expected the economy dominated their first one on one showdown. romney came out swinging as the candidates argued tax policy, budget deficit and health care and looks like the aggressive approach may have paid off for the republican challenger. cbs news poll shows romney made strides of uncommitted voters that he needs to win over in order to take over the white house. we go to denver first. >> reporter: terrell, good morning. seems like mitt romney may have received that boost he was hoping for after putting the president on the defensive for much of the night. romney lauded his own accomplishments as governor of massachusetts while continuing to highlight the failed promises of the obama administration. the first presidential debate started with a hand shake and a romantic moment.

>> 20 years ago i became the luckiest man on earth because michelle obama agreed to married me. >> congratulations. i'm sure this was the most romantic place you could imagine here with me. >> reporter: that was the last touching moment of the night. >> everything he said about my tax plan is inaccurate. the tax plan he described is the tax plan i was asked to support i would say absolutely not. i'm not looking for a $5 trillion tax cut. >> he's been running on this tax plan for 18 months and now five weeks before the election he's saying that his big bold idea is never mind. >> reporter: the theme of the debate for president obama appeared to be romney's plan lacked specifics. >> the reason that governor romney is keeping all these plans to replace secret because they are too good? >> reporter: mitt romney spent most of the night attacking the president's record. >> you've been president for four years. you said you would cut the

deficit in half. it's now four years. >> reporter: romney came into the debate trailing in the polls but that could change. >> any time a challenger stands on the stage with a president in the first debate they tend to get some bounce after that. i expect that could happen here. >> reporter: the romney campaign believes the governor scored a knockout. >> i believe romney was the clear winner of this debate. if it was a boxing match it would have been called. >> reporter: a cbs poll shows romney was the overwhelming winner. 46% of the people say romney won the debate while 22% said the president had the edge. romney helped his image with voters. 63% feel he cares about their needs and problems. that's up from 30% before last night. and 56% say they like romney better after watching his performance. but jim lehrer might not feel the same way. >> i'm sorry, jim, i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs and some other things. i like big bird and you too.

i'm not going to keep spending money to borrow money from china to pay for it again. >> reporter: the two men will square off again on october 16th. vice presidential candidates will get their turn next week. they square off in their first and only debate on thursday. >> thank you so much. you just mentioned it vice presidential candidates joe biden and paul ryan holding their debate one week from today. president obama and mitt romney debate two more times this month. they will answer questions in a town hall style debate october 16th and debate foreign affairs on october 22nd. overseas now an escalating violence between turkey and syria. overnight turkey launched artillery strikes into syria. several syrian soldiers have been killed. artillery attacks were retaliation for mortar fire that landed in a turkish border down killing civilians. nato held an emergency meeting to asking syria to end the violations of international law.

>> reporter: turkey took action against syria after a deadly shelling from the syrian side hit a turkish border town. among the dead a 6-year-old boy. several people were also injured including a police officer. turkey says it retaliated in points in syria detected with radar. the united states is in contact with turkish officials. >> it's a very dangerous situation. all responsible nations need to band together to persuade the assad regime to have a cease-fire. >> reporter: parts of the syrian city of lipo laid in rubles. following four explosions. syrian state tv said three suicide bombers detonated cars packed with explosives killing 34 people. three blasts went off within minutes of each other near

military officer's club. a fourth struck near the chamber of commerce. the city has become one of the biggest battlegrounds in the 18 month fight between rebels and government forces. syria's parliament condemned the bombings referring to the rebels as terrorists trying to oust president bashir al assad. lipo has seen intense fighting but been rarely the target of suicide attacks. the explosions triggered panic among some residents who just want the conflict to end. >> it's been three weeks since the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya was attacked. four americans were killed. there are questions and criticism of the u.s. response to the attack. congress is opening its own investigation. at the state department margaret brennan reports secretary clinton promises a full accounting. >> reporter: were there requests for increase in security in tripoli and benghazi and can you address whether washington or

your office rejected those requests? >> let me start by cautioning everyone against seizing on any single statement or piece of information to draw a final conclusion. over the course of this review there will naturally be a number of statements made, some of it -- some of which will be borne out and some of which will not. >> reporter: clinton and her aides have consistently pointed to intelligence reports that indicated there was no threat to the u.s. mission, and that it was intelligence agencies that initially said the attack was sparked by a spontaneous demonstration. >> i am aware too that many people are eager for answers. so am i, margaret, and no one wants the answers more than we do here at the department. >> reporter: senior aides are handing over emails and paper work to congressional investigators who want to know who knew about the security situation in benghazi. the state department's own five person review board begins this week.

margaret brennan, cbs news the state department. >> health officials believe a deadly outbreak of a rare form of meningitis may be linked to a drug given for back pain. there's been 26 cases of fungal meningitis in five states. they received steroid injections made by a pharmacy in massachusetts. more cases are expected. fungal meningitis is not contagious. coming up on this morning news, facebook fee. if you want your facebook page to get more attention you may have to start paying for it. what's this all about? ashley morrison explains right after this. it. what's this all about? ashley morrison explains right after this. i earn twice as much with double extrabucks rewards. that's two times the rewards! yeah, that's what double is. i know. i was agreeing with you. it's two times. act fast and sign up at cvs.com/doublebucks

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why use more when you can use less? onof chocolate lovers from the thmelting point of chocolate. so when you take hershey's chocolate and add bubbles, it deliciously melts the moment you take a bite. hershey's air delight. it just might make you melt. are a sizzling deal, starting at 6 bucks. try our new lunch-size chicken fajitas, sauteed onions and peppers topped with grilled chicken, served with soup or salad. chili's lunch break combos, starting at 6 bucks. a fire broke out at the exxonmobil refinery in texas wednesday afternoon. it took firefighters three hours to put it out. the refinery is the largest petroleum complex in the nation. no one was hurt and no hazardous emissions were reported.

cbs money watch time. problems at other refineries are driving up gas prices for some americans. your friends could soon be jockeying for position on your facebook feed. break it down for us ashley. >> reporter: good morning. drivers on both coasts are wondering why they are paying more at the pump than other americans. gas prices in california are 45 cents higher than the national average while prices in new york, new hampshire and connecticut are about 40 cents higher than a year ago. analysts blame the higher costs on reduced production at several refineries. the cost of oil saw its steepest decline since may. prices fell below $90 a barrel. the price drop can be attributed to the slowing economy in china. overseas markets edged up ahead. tokyo's nikkei gained 1% snapping a four session losing streak while hong kong's hang

seng added a fraction. today the labor department releases the weekly unemployment numbers. on friday we'll get the september jobs report. stocks on wall street inched higher. the dow added 12 points while the nasdaq gained 15. one market loser was hewlett packard. shares of hp fell 13% after ceo meg whitman said she expects the company to continue to struggle whitman said it could be 2015 before hp's revenue growth picks up. the company is coming off their biggest quarterly loss in its history. hershey is getting socially conscious about their cocoa. they are pledging to use only certified cocoa in all its chocolate products by the year the 2020. hershey was criticized by activists saying it was the only major chocolate producer not committed to using the fair trade product. some facebook friends could be paying to make sure you see their posts.

facebook is introducing a new feature in the u.s. that let users pay to have their posts appear higher in their friends news feeds. it was tested in new zealand and introduced in 20 other countries. facebook didn't say how much it will cost to promote a post. i don't think i have anything that important. >> your friends flock to your page anyway. >> you as well. >> not six times a day like yours. ashley morrison here in new york. a scary looking new dinosaur has been discovered. it has fangs and quills. about the size of a house cat. it's a cross between a bird, a porcupine and a vampire. it's a halloween-like parrot and said it lived 200 million years ago. some things we're glad are extinct today. up next your thursday morning weather and in sports while some of baseball's division chases

come down to the last day of the season it's this mascot race that's got the fans talking. that's got the fans talking. [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego. prego?! but i've bought ragu for years. [ thinking ] wonder what other questionable choices i've made? i choose date number 2! whooo! [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. with no added sugar, just one glass equals two servings of fruit. very fruit-tritious. or, try ocean spray light 50, with just 50 calories, a full serving of fruit and no added sugar. with tasty flavors like cranberry-pomegranate and cranberry- concord grape, it's like a fruit stand in every bottle. just...you know... demonstrating how we blend the fruits.

try all our tasty ocean spray 100% and light 50 juices. here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. thunderstorms in new york, 77. same deal out in miami 89. clouds and sun in chicago. 76. sunshine in dallas 88 and partly sunny skies in los angeles, 78 degrees. let's check your national forecast. dense fog and light rain will stretch from the mid-atlantic region into coastal new england.

a stalled front will bring showers and thunderstorms from northern florida to carolinas. break out the blower. parts of minnesota and north dakota could get as much as four inches of snow. here we go. in sports the tigers miguel cabrera joined the baseball great of ted williams and mickey mantle. he finished the season as the american league leader in batting average, home runs and rbied. he got the triple crown. cabrera getting a standing o when he was taken out of the game. he's the first triple crown winner since 1967. last national league winner was joe midwick back in 1937. a thrilling last day for post-season races in baseball. yankees saved the best for last. a pair of homers helping the bronx bombers destroy the red sox 13-2. the yanks had 245 home runs.

the orioles lose. new york wins the american league east. electric in oakland. they rallied from four runs down to beat the rangers 12-5 and do the improbable to win the american league west for the first time since 2006. the a's came from a 13 game division deficit. the rangers face a one game playoff wild card game. forget the race for the white house. this is the president' race for the ages. this is teddy roosevelt, george washington, thomas jefferson and abe lincoln. giant 10-foot tall foam presidents. sprinting around the park during the nationals game on wednesday. a philly's mascot knocked everybody down. after losing 500 times since 2006, teddy roosevelt wins for the first time. just like that. when we come back the search is over. a woman caught on camera

breaking the law by riding a manatee has surrendered.

san jose police are investigating two deadly shootings. what we're just learning about the victims. plus: few fireworks and fewr surprises. the presidential candidates meet in denver. w big bird quickly became the biggest star of the debate. "..." and the a's have it! but not until after an amazing come. so who are they playing nexd what are the chances of anor ,,,,battle of the bay.

here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. in d.c. thunderstorms 82 degrees. sunny in atlanta 84. 82 degrees in st. louis. 54 in denver. partly sunny skies in seattle, 65. with millions of americans tuning in to watch last night's debate you might expect the candidates to be edgy but check out what mitt romney was up to before he took the stage. romney watched as three of his grandsons and his sons by the way played jinga. that can be pretty intense. last year sales of dietary supplements totals $20 billion. now some may have misleading labels.

>> reporter: the report found that 20% of supplements had labels that claim to treat a disease and that's illegal. for example, the government says this label for a product containing vitamins and a compound called dim complex is legal because it claims to boost the immune system and boost overall health but doesn't say it treats a specific disease. this label containing algae and an herb calls heal-all is illegal because it claims to treat diseases like herpes and the flu. >> this report raises questions to which the extent these claims are truthful and not misleading. fda doesn't have the ability to look at the substantiation behind the claims. there's no way for them or consumers to know whether or not the claims are truthful. >> reporter: the fda has only limited power to regulate supplements because federal law classifies them as food not drugs.

products required to be safe but the fda only monitors them after they are on the market. when it comes to proof, supplement makers are only required to say research has been done. they are not required to show it to the fda. the natural products association, the main trade group of the supplement industry issued a statement saying this small sample of supplements shouldn't smear the entire industry. the investigators looked at 127 supplements claiming to boost the immune system or help with weight loss. none met all of the fda's recommendations for proving the products actually worked. a woman accused of riding a manatee has turned herself in. on sunday a bystander snapped a photo of the woman. after a statewide search, gutierrez surrendered on tuesday. she said she didn't know she broke the law. she could be charged with sea cow molestation. and could get 60 days in the

county jail. good luck explaining that one. molesting a sea cow. i'm terrell brown. this is the morning news. ws. ts of different ways to say get well to your loved ones. ♪ this came for you, mommy. [ female announcer ] but it takes the touch of kleenex® brand, america's softest tissue, to turn a gesture into a complete gift of care. [ barks ] send your own free kleenex® care pack... full of soothing essentials at kleenex.com. kleenex®. america's softest tissue.

three years ago this week eight americans were killed in one of the worst attacks in the war in afghanistan. one of the men injured that day is back home. as jeff glor reports, his life has taken a dramatic turn from the battlefield to the football field. >> reporter: u.s. army sergeant daniel rodriguez found himself under attack constantly at a remote outpost in afghanistan. on october 3rd, 2009, he was injured in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. eight of his fellow soldiers were killed. including his best friend kevin thompson. >> we had a close relationship. shared a bond. we shared a room. i think about him all the time. >> reporter: rodriguez received a purple heart and bronze star with valor for his actions that day. but after leaving the military he struggled. >> i was an alcoholic. you know i resorted to a lot of

alternatives as far as ptsd go. obstacles were in the way. >> reporter: then rodriguez remembered a pack he made with thompson before his death. >> i made a promise i would play football and i committed myself to eating right, working out, quit drinking. >> reporter: last december rodriguez posted a highlight video on youtube. it went viral and got the attention of clemson head football coach. >> i really was mesmerized because i never seen a video put together like that. >> reporter: despite not having played football since high school, this 24-year-old walked on and made clemson's football team. on september 8th his first milestone. >> that first catch -- yeah. tell me about it. it wasn't anything special. to me it was and to 80,000 fans it was.

it was a four-yard catch that got the fans crazy. i went in knowing i would get the ball. they called the play. this is it. don't drop it. that's the reaction out of the crowd. made me feel so humble. >> this is the most famous four-yard catch in the history of college football. >> yeah. >> your reaction? >> so excited for him. to see him fulfill a dream. here's a guy that two years ago he's sitting in who knows where with bullets flying at him watching his best friend die and others die. >> reporter: daniel rodriguez may now be a world away from afghanistan but he's still inspiring his new band of brothers. >> i was trying to remain who i am and keep that presence about me why i'm doing what i'm doing for my buddies killed in action. i want to be something when i see them again they will say hey you gave it your all.

we're proud of you. >> jeff glor reporting. coming up after your local news on cbs "this morning" a wrap of last night's presidential debate. we'll get an analysis and the battle over the fate of a historic house built by frank lloyd wright. that's the morning news for this thursday. we appreciate you watching. i'm terrell brown. take care everybody, have a great day. ,,,,

>> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald good morning, everybody. it is thursday, october 4. i'm frank mallicoat. >> i'm michelle griego. time now is 4:30. you don't come close to paying for $5 trillion in tax cuts and $2 trillion in additional military spending. >> everything yo